14th June 2021
School Sports Day in Japan is a team event day. Students are usually divided into two or four teams and they do many events, sometimes different events for different grades. Some of the events are quite rough!
People in other countries probably don’t do these events, so being able to explain the events is useful. This time we picked up three events. The first one people probably know about, the second two, probably not.
1 Tug of War – 綱引き（tsunahiki) Two teams stand at opposite ends of a rope and try to pull the other team over the centre line.
2 ＊ There is not one clear name for this event. People do a similar thing in swimming pools and it’s called a Chicken Fight. You could call it a Chicken Fight or a Knight Battle or maybe Jousting – 騎馬戦（kibasen).
There are two teams of four people. Three people make a horse and carry the fourth person, the knight, on their shoulders. The knights either have coloured ribbons tied around their heads or they wear coloured caps. The knights try to pull off the ribbon or cap of the other knight.
3 The Centipede Race -ムカデ競争（mukadekyōsō）The idea is similar to a three-legged race. Each member of the team has their feet tied to the person in front of them and the person behind them with a rope or cord. The teams race each other. They look like a giant centipede or caterpillar when running.
＊ `Sports Day´ is British English. In American English it is often called `Field Day´. You can also call it a `Sports Festival´.
＊ There is a national holiday around the 10th of October called Sports Day – 体育の日 (taiikunohi). The school Sports Day may be held around this day or it might be held in May, June or September.
■ Does everyone have to do Sports Day?
■ Which event do you like?
■ I’ve seen pictures of a ball throwing event.
■ I like the mukade race.
■ Do you have Sports Day in your country?